We have to accept the reality that living in our midst in west London in the 21st century, many black and ethnic minority women are being enslaved, abused and tortured by abusive husbands.

At its worst, the abuse means women are locked in their rooms, made to cook and clean for the husband's family, denied food, beaten and raped.

Their children may be taken away and the husbands often use the threat of deportation to intimidate them as they will be controlling the immigration process. Going back home to Africa or India would mean the terrible shame of living as a single woman and often being seen as little more than a prostitute.

Terrified of abuse and of being deported, these women often sink into severe depression and many contemplate suicide.

This chilling message is made clear to me when I visit the headquarters of the Southall Black Sisters charity, an organisation that is working closely with Ealing Council to help BME women fleeing the nightmare of domestic violence, and working to help change the immigration laws to give them a fairer chance at being allowed to stay in the UK.

Ms X lived in Africa when she was forced into an arranged marriage with an Indian family from the Punjab. She travelled to England with her husband, determined to do her duty and make the marriage work. At first there was a brief honeymoon period, but things began to spiral out of control.

She said: "I wasn't ready for marriage. It's all about lies and miscommunication. You don't even have the power to know who you're going to spend the rest of your life with. It was a set-up marriage and my family wasn't ready to listen to me.

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"He would lock me in the house and I couldn't do anything. It was very scary and he would throw things at me and force himself on me. I had no money of my own so I couldn't do anything.

"After we moved here, I started seeing his true colours. My parents had a word with his parents, then they told me: 'This is your fault. You will have to put up with it'.

Many women say it is seen as so shameful in Asian cultures to leave your husband's home, you should only do so in death (Image: PA)

"A lot of women in our culture are told you only leave your husband's home in death. My parents told me the best thing would be for me to have a child as soon as possible, but I didn't want to bring a new life into the world because I was so unhappy.

"I reported it to the police and they referred me to the Indian High Commission who advised me to stay with him because they said it would be impossible to do anything else.

"If I had gone back home to India I would have had to go into hiding in case his family found me and you can't live alone in India because people think you are a whore."

Ms X contacted the police and moved to a refuge but her husband found her and started stalking her. Then she found out about SBS and went straight there.

She said: "From that point I was safe. Within two days they arranged accommodation and I joined a support group. Now I'm doing a Level Three apprenticeship in care work and I want to go on to help people who are suffering like I did. I want to go on to university to study human rights and law.

"I was caged before, but now I've got rights and freedom and strength."

Many women risk losing their immigration status if they try to escape from their partners' control (Image: PA)

Ms Y: "I felt paranoid, desperate and I felt shame. But I was so scared to go back to Nigeria because I would be judged"

Ms Y lived in Nigeria where she was attacked and raped by armed robbers. The experience left her unable to have a child but she met her husband and travelled with him to the UK.

"He started going out and having affairs with other women. I thought it was my own fault because I couldn't give him a child," she said.

"It was only when I came to Southall Black Sisters that I realised I was being abused. To me it was a normal situation but I was depressed for nine years.

"It was when I had an operation to remove gall stones and I came back from hospital and he left me.

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"I felt paranoid and desperate and I felt shame because I couldn't have a child. I was so scared to go back to Nigeria because I would be judged.

"He had taken my passport in 2007 and I had no leave to remain. It would have been impossible to go back to Nigeria because it's very difficult to live there as a woman on your own. In that situation you've got no-one to turn to because you don't know where to go to get help. I had no job and my husband had control over my immigration.

"I went to church and my priest told me to go to my doctor. They diagnosed me with PTSD.

"When I came to SBS I had counselling and the counsellor understood me straight away. It was like coming back to life and becoming a human being again.

"Then I started realising I had been suffering domestic violence. The support group at SBS was like a home to me because my whole world had crumbled.

"I started gaining confidence. My confidence got boosted and I started speaking out about things in a way I couldn't even imagine doing before. Now I can speak anywhere and go anywhere on my own."

Ms Y is now and ambassador fro SBS and speaks at many public events. Last year she even spoke in front of all the MPs at a House of Commons event. But she has been waiting seven years to see if the Home Office will grant her leave to remain in the UK.

Southall Black sisters has been involved in numerous campaigns and demonstrations calling for better rights for those fleeing domestic abuse. Pic: SBS

How does Southall Black Sisters help?

The charity steps in at the crucial moment when women are fleeing abusive husbands. It finds women safe accommodation, and through the No Recourse Fund they are able to help with subsistence and emergency accommodation. In addition, they provide advocacy, support and counselling. Regular support groups meet where the women get involved in tasks to improve their English or life skills and talk to each other to share experiences. It also offers outreach surgery on family law advice, with housing and immigration.

SBS runs a resource centre providing information, advice, advocacy, counselling and support to Black and minority women and children. Most women approach them to escape domestic/gender violence and advice and assistance on inter-related issues such as homelessness and immigration/asylum problems, poverty, civil/family and criminal proceedings and mental health.

They speak at events and demonstrations and help advance the cause of women's rights and changed to the law to improve things for BME women.

One of its major campaigns is to lobby the government to change the immigration laws for women fleeing domestic violence. At the moment, a woman who had a Spouse Visa can get temporary leave to remain on the grounds of domestic violence which gives her three months to put together a case to prove she suffered from domestic violence. During this period she is entitled to claim benefits and housing.

For other women who came to the UK without a spouse visa, there is no safety net available and they are constantly in danger of being deported. Often abusive husbands use this as a way to threaten their wives.

It si claimed the IO often doesn't believe many women's version of events. These women and children are the most vulnerable in society and often sexually and economically exploited.

SBS is also lobbying to try to change the law so that other women with different or no visa are offered the same help as those who have the right to be in the UK. The hostile environment deny these women and children to live free from violence and abuse. Women are often left completely reliant on their husbands and see no choice but to stay in abusive relationships or face deportation.

SBS has spearheaded numerous campaigns to seek justice for victims of domestic violence such as Kiranjit Ahluwalia and to promote cultural change to ensure all women and children are provided with safety.